Purging the pile

Throughout most of my 21 years, I've acquired a lot of Lego, enough to fill three large storage tubs. Problem is, it's not sorted, which means finding the right part can take hours, which often results in me getting frustrated and Bricklinking the parts I needed in bulk. In addition to several damaged, broken and chewed pieces, there's a bunch of Duplo (to go the Lego table in the chiropractor's waiting room) bad quality knockoff parts (largely Best Lock, which will go straight to the trash) and assorted non-building toy junk (Matchbox, Hot Wheels (those will be moved to the storage for that hobby), and a ton of Happy Meal toys) that's got to be removed from it. And I might as well do some rudimentary sorting while I'm at it.

What's the quickest, and most efficient way of sorting out the junk?

And what would be the best simple categories to sort to? So far, I'm thinking, wheels, minifigures and gear, translucent parts, bricks, plates, wheels & tires, assorted Technic, electrical.

I would also recommend adding Modified Plates and Modified Bricks Otherwise, you'll end up with one of those storage containers of just Bricks. Only if you can, of course, but I'd assume so considering you've got two separate categories for Wheels. ;)

Now that that's out of the way, I recently used the minifigure head part sorter to separate three bins of various sized parts. Although it is still aggravating to search through two distinct piles of parts, sorting through a bin of 2x2s is easier if there aren't 2x10 plates and 400 ladders and tires.

I have a ton of experience doing this. My recommendation:#1 - pick out all large items (Lego and non Lego). Then sort that pile. This should reduce the volume by 30% at least.#2 - strip out bricks and plates only (separate or separate modifieds per bricklink categories as you wish)#3 - strip out other large volume categories one at a time like slope, tile, tire/wheels, wedge platesBy this time more than 50% of the bin should be shorted. Slowly target additional categories as needed.